Prior to summit night

We had a quick breakfast surrounded by the stunning view of the snow-covered mountain. The weather this morning seemed to be on our side with only few light clouds and no anticipated rain. Temperature was just below freezing and a light breeze from the north.

We departed Karanga Camp shortly after breakfast and had a few hours walk to reach Barafu camp. We were all excited about our accomplishment so far, but nothing would compare it to actually reach the highest peak on the African continent. The only thing in our mind was to remain in a healthy state without catching a cold or twists an ankle, which would severely deplete our energy or chances to reach the summit.

The weather turned against us mid afternoon and we were met with icing hail and rain. The trail was becoming so slippery that it was very difficult to walk without sliding and gliding on the rough terrain. The short walk to reach our final camp before summit turned into long, mind-struggling hours of just pacing one foot in front of the other in order to keep moving, keeping dry and warm. I was not really a happy camper any longer and was not living in the moment. I was visualizing myself home in front of the fireplace, clean, warm and far away from the biting cold.   

We finally reached camp around 2pm and before we had checked in we witnessed 3 climbers from other groups being escorted down due to illness. This gave some thoughts to the seriousness of the altitude we were going to sleep at and the devastating feeling of reaching that far, all that effort and then have to give it all up unwillingly. I felt with the sick climbers and hope that all turned well in the end.

We had our lunch at 4pm, which was not favorable to any of us, as dinner would be served at 6pm due to the early ascend to the summit at 11pm. The guides strongly recommended against skipping dinner as we needed all the energy to keep warm for the possible -24 degrees Celsius at the top and to withstand the continues 12-14 hours walk.  

It would be a very short night and we finally laid wrapped up in our sleeping bags at 8pm. Restless, thinking, visualizing, so close and still so far away.

Few hours and we would be on our way.